"When my wife and I were first married, she said that every couple should have a hobby they can do together. Today, we have more than 2,000 buttonhooks in our collection. They were made from the 1850s through the 1930s and were used to secure women's and men's shoes, shirts, gloves, and other apparel. Many buttonhooks were given away with shoes or as part of vanity and sewing sets. Classic buttonhooks were made of silver (above) by a silversmith who would also make spoons and silverware. But they were also made of gold, tin, glass, wood, semiprecious stones, brass, porcelain. You can find ones for as little as 30 cents to as high as a few thousand dollars."